"Why haven't you lit the fire yet?" Tan Laizi squatted on the ground with a sticker beside him and a flint in his hand. When he heard Wei Zhuangtou yelling, he quickly knocked on the flint again and shot out a few sparks. The sparks fell on the tinder.
Go up, Tan Laizi moves a little slowly, pick it up
When I blew it, the sparks disappeared again.
A riding crop next to him was swung, hitting him all over the head and face.
"You useless piece of trash, you can't beat a woman holding a baby, and you can't light a fire, so what are you for?"
The bald Qing soldier was beating and cursing at the same time. Tan Leizi covered his head with his hands and tried to block it with his sleeves, but Zhuang Tou hit him exclusively on his hands and head, causing Tan Lepzi to scream repeatedly.
"This slave is really invincible! Wei Zhuangtou, spare your life!"
Wei Zhuangtou whipped him hard again, and Tan Laizi screamed, fell to the ground and kept moaning.
"You haven't ordered it yet, how long will it take to cook the food?"
"Slave point, slave point!"
Tan Laizi quickly got up, shaking his hands and going to knock again, but Wei Zhuang stepped on the stamp with his head and said, "You have to rub the paper to make it better."
Tan Laizi struck the flint, and this time a spark fell from the tinder. One of them seemed to be able to be raised. He carefully picked it up and blew slowly into the tinder.
There was smoke coming out of the tinder. When he saw the fire, Wei Zhuang kicked it over and said, "Foster the fire."
Tan Leizi picked up the crumpled stamps on the ground and looked up at Wei Zhuangtou.
"Let you light a fire and see what I do."
Zhuangtou said and waved his whip again. Tan Laizi was frightened and put the sticker on the fire with a sad face. He watched the flames ignite on the sticker and a white smoke with the smell of paint rose up.
Two tears rolled down Tan Laizi's face. He turned around to get the prepared thin sticks of firewood, carefully placed them on the fire and ignited them. After a while, he could burn larger pieces of wood.
Zhuangtou kicked him over, "Are you crying?"
Tan Laizi turned to look at Wei Zhuangtou in front of him, "Sir, it's the smoke."
Wei Zhuangtou stretched his head over and put his nose right on the smoke coming out, "Why does your burned paper smell so good? Here are two more."
Tan Laizi was shocked, "As I said, when I got this piece of paper, the store owner said don't burn it and don't smell it because it's poisonous!"
"What's so poisonous about a piece of paper? The master said that two more pieces of paper will be smelled today." Tan Laizi was stunned. This piece of paper is worth ten taels of silver. If you burn it like this, at least thirty taels of silver will be gone today. Brain
Suddenly he remembered that Zhuangtou had avoided his coat when he hit him just now, so he took off his coat and put his hands on Wei Zhuangtou's heels.
Before, "You will be my master from now on. I am not a person who never repays my kindness. I bought this coat newly from Xuzhou. I respect you and ask you to reward me with an old one." Wei Zhuangtou really forgot.
Regarding burning the stamps, he immediately reached out to take it, and said, "You are so skinny, you won't keep anything. You led the way to find the food. Master Mengtu left you alive. You have to know whether it's good or bad. It depends on you."
Not bad
Understand the truth."
"I know what is good. I have also been to Weijiawan and Daijiawan. There are many shops there. I will take the village head there and I will definitely get some good things."
Wei Zhuangtou chuckled, "Then just wait."
He turned around and walked away. Tan Leizi shivered on the spot. He quickly put a nearby piece of wood into the fire, but the fire was still not big enough to protect Tan Leizi from the cold.
There were more than a dozen corpses placed on the ground not far away from him. There were solidified blood stains on the ground. The Tatars did not behead them, but just stabbed them several times.
Those who were killed were all old people and babies, but there was also a thin man among them, who was about the same size as Tan Laizi. Tan Laizi saved his life thanks to the words of the master Mengtu. I don’t know what those words moved the master.
, Tan Leizi currently only knows that Mengtu is a leading official. This bald Qing soldier calls himself Wei Zhuangtou. I don’t know who he is.
What kind of official, Tan Leizi didn't dare to ask. Tan Leizi looked around and saw that there were only four people arrested, and a few others were separated by other Qing troops. The woman collapsed on the ground and moaned for a long time.
With a sound, Tan Lezi did not dare to look at her, while the other two squatted aside.
, no one dared to say a word.
The Qing cavalry stopped at Balizhuang along the way, because the light was not good and they could not move around. Tan Laizi did not know the size of the Qing army, but there must be a lot of them, and many of them were bright-armored Tatars he had seen before.
. Different from the rogue camp where Tan Laizi stayed, this Qing army did not have many servants. A small number of them had a servant on horseback, and some had no servants at all. These Qing troops did not just stop in Balizhuang, but also went to the surrounding countryside.
Activity
, many people were arrested one after another.
Before dark, new Qing troops arrived. These people also rode horses and led mules, but most of them did not have armor. After arriving, they began to arrange meals and camp.
Many of these people spoke Chinese, and Tan Laizi could understand most of them, but he couldn't tell their identities. They were probably similar to Wei Zhuangtou.
At this time, Wei Zhuangtou came back slowly, holding a black cotton coat in his hand. Tan Leizi was so cold that he trembled all over and quickly took it with both hands. Wei Zhuangtou did not hand it to him, but stared at the trembling Tan Leizi in a joking manner.
.
Tan Laizi's whole body stiffened and he leaned to the left and fell to the ground. He quickly stood up and kowtowed to Wei Zhuangtou.
Wei Zhuangtou held it for a moment longer before throwing it on the ground.
"Thank you Zhuangtou for the reward!" Tan Leizi quickly grabbed it and put it on his chest, then struggled to put it on. I don't know where Zhuangtou found this old coat. It was probably ripped off from a dead person. It was full of rags.
The hole, a lot of cotton inside leaked,
The rest was also caked in lumps, and the entire jacket was hard and smelly, far inferior to his original one. His body still felt cold to the bone, but fortunately the fire was about to start, so he could keep warm while cooking.
It was already dark at this time, and firelight was flashing everywhere in the village. When the Qing army moved around, the light and shadow kept changing, and incomprehensible accents were heard from far and near. Everything was so strange.
Tan Laizi covered his cotton-padded jacket with a pale face, looking at the ashes on the ground and twitching the corners of his mouth, "Where did the damn Pang Stick go? You should kill these damned Tatars."
…
Outside Boping County, Dongchang Prefecture, and to the north of Anqing Camp, although there are only more than 2,000 civilians, they carry a large number of bicycle frames, and the camp is still quite large.
It was already close to midnight, and the camp area had quieted down. Worried about spies, the army went into the secret camp. No trenches were dug outside the camp area, but javelins were used as supports, and a rope was pulled to form the camp wall.
This method of decamping was commonly used in the Anqing camp, but at this time the Qing army had begun to move eastward, which was quite risky. However, Pang Yu had no other way, because the land was too hard, and if he had to dig, the soldiers would not have the physical strength to fight.
Pang Yu could only double the security force and deploy sentries along the camp wall. The distance between the two sentries should not exceed the visual range. Each flag team must retain a small team wearing armor, and the artillery should be loaded towards the outside.
On the official road, people came from the north one after another. They were all fleeing and were exhausted. Although they saw the officers and soldiers nearby, they did not have the strength to flee again. This kind of cold winter weather, if exposed to the wild
It is extremely dangerous outside, both for the people and the army.
There were some houses outside Boping City, and most of the people inside had fled. The people who had fled broke open the doors and went in to spend the night. The door panels were used to light fires, and smoke filled the outside of Boping City.
Pang Yu had not rested in the Chinese army tent. Zhuang Chaozheng and Jiang Guoyong were checking the night defenses. They were not in the tent. Chen Rulie was smoking with a chimney. Tu Dianli kept marking on the map. Wu Dacai was helping him.
.
After the curtain came and opened, several guards brought in a plate of pancakes and several bowls of hot soup. Everyone in the tent went to get it. Pang Yu grabbed the pancake and bit into it. He found that there was no meat in it, but he didn't ask any questions.
Pang Yu wiped her lips and said to Tu Dianli, "Let's talk about the latest situation first." "I just received the information from the rangers. Jiannu was pursuing them very fast. The rangers couldn't stand in Youfangdu until they reached Daijiawan.
The position was stabilized only by the support of the First Cavalry Division. After nightfall, the various flag units were reunited. The Rangers from the Chujiaquan direction did not return to Weijiawan, but sent someone to report the situation. Today, two members of the Ranger Flag Troops of the First Cavalry Division died in the battle.
Three people were injured and six were missing during the retreat. One person was killed and one was injured in the Ranger Flag Team of the Second Cavalry Division, and no one was missing. The Thousand Headquarters was directly under the Ranger Bureau. Five people were killed in the battle and seven were injured. The Second Flag Team had a detachment.
Nine people are missing, and one team of the Three Flags Team is missing in the direction of Qinghe. Excluding vacancies and casualties during the journey, the number of all rangers who can still fight is 118, and the number of horses is 118.
One hundred and twenty-one horses, receiving Xuanda and Liaozhen cavalry, a total of twelve people, assigned to three flag corps."
The losses of the Rangers were very serious. The number of casualties reached 40 today, which will greatly affect the subsequent battlefield reconnaissance. Chen Rulie, who was smoking, took a deep breath. Wu Dacai frowned and kept observing Pang Yu's expression. "The oil room after nightfall.
There were fires in the direction of the crossing. The Ranger Bureau set up an ambush outpost at Daijiawan and engaged in a battle with the unknown cavalry. The other party withdrew immediately after the engagement. It was not confirmed whether the slaves were established. Three people from the Balizhuang outpost did not withdraw, and the rest withdrew.
Returned to Chujiaquan to join the second flag team. When it was getting dark, they encountered the slave team in Chujiaquan. They fought once but did not achieve any results. However, it was confirmed that there were Jiannu cavalry in Chujiaquan and Zhaojiaquan, each with hundreds of people.
There are a few river crossings on the left and right."
Chen Rulie suddenly cursed, "There are tens of thousands of troops in Linqing City, but when the Tatars are approaching, no one comes out to kill them! It's just us with hundreds of rangers fighting against the Tatars, what kind of battle is this being fought by the Ministry of War!"
When Wu Dacai saw that Pang Yu didn't speak, he didn't answer the question. He turned his head and looked at the map and said, "The oil house is about fifty miles away from Linqing, and the Chujia Circle is also over fifty miles away. Are the Tatars going to bypass Linqing?"
Qing Dynasty or besieging Linqing?" Tu Dianli ignored the pancake and pointed at the location of Linqing with the finger that grabbed the pancake. "It should be bypassed. If we want to fight, we should be closer. There is no need to go to the oil house and Chujia Circle.
Go. No matter whether we are bypassing or fighting, we can't count on the military town in Linqing. A military town in the south of the city was partially defeated today. When the rangers retreated, they met the servants of the army who were walking eastward and asked Liu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of Tongzhou.
After the news of the Tatars' eastward advance reached Linqing, all the troops stationed outside the city demanded
Entering the city, Director Gao only let a few people in, and then locked the doors. He kept the keys himself. The troops who stayed outside the city were unsettled and worried about being attacked by the slaves, so some of the horsemen ran away."
Tens of thousands of people don't dare to attack?" Pang Yu was also a little nervous. According to the information collected by the rangers, there were heavy troops gathered inside and outside Linqing City. Among those transferred from outside, there were 20,000 Gao Qi Guanning Army and 3,000 He Commander Zhou Ding.
, Denglai patrol
Fuyang Wenyue had 4,000 men, Tongzhou General Liu Zeqing had 3,000 soldiers, and Tianjin General Liu Furong had 2,000 troops. In addition to the Linqing generals who were originally in the city, the total force was nearly 40,000. There were 40,000 Ming troops in Linqing City, and they were in an advantageous position.
The inner line of the Qing army can easily attack in any direction, but the north and south routes of the Qing army cannot support each other due to geographical isolation. The huge team of the Qing army has to bypass such a large city.
Each queue is an easy target to attack, especially if there are tens of thousands of enemies in it. The general army would not dare to go around it casually when encountering such a situation. But looking at the current situation of the Qing army, it may really be necessary to bypass the Qing army.
The only thing that affected the army was that the march route could not be too close to Linqing, and the ferry near Zhoucheng could not be used. The distance between Youfangdu upstream and Chujiaquan downstream was very short.
About fifty miles.
If the news obtained by the Rangers is true, then Linqing's ministries have no fighting spirit, and no troops will go out to fight. Pang Yu can't count on anyone. If the Qing army continues to advance tomorrow, the weak Anqing camp will be in
Tens of thousands of Qing troops are advancing forward, and there is no friendly support. From today's point of view, the mobility of the Anqing Battalion is completely incomparable to that of the Qing army. In just one day
By that time, the Qing army's vanguard had advanced more than a hundred miles, and the cavalry was spread all over Linqing.
The first task now is to get away from the front of the Qing army. Otherwise, once caught up, the Qing army will quickly mobilize troops to besiege. Pang Yu felt a little irritable, pulled his collar and said, "From Wei County to
Youfang Ferry, today the Tatar vanguard traveled more than 100 miles, and it was 80 miles from Yao'an Town to Chujiaquan. The farthest possible route was Daijiawan. That must not have taken a detour through Youfang Ferry, but from near Linqing.
Crossing the river. If the Tatars really arrive at Daijiawan in the evening, they are only seventy miles away from here. How far will they go tomorrow?"